Waw an-Namus

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Waw an-Namus
Waw an-Namus, taken from the space shuttle, October 25, 1992

Waw an-Namus, taken from the space shuttle , October 25, 1992

height 547  m
location Libya
Coordinates 24 ° 55 '5 "  N , 17 ° 45' 45"  E Coordinates: 24 ° 55 '5 "  N , 17 ° 45' 45"  E
Waw an-Namus (Libya)
Waw an-Namus
Type Caldera
Center of the Waw an-Namus
Caldera of the extinct volcano Wau-en-Namus in southern Libya, in the center of the Sahara
central crater

Waw an-Namus ( Arabic واو الناموس, DMG Wāw an-Nāmūs  'mosquito crater'; also Wau-en-Namus ) is an extinct volcano , a caldera in southern Libya , near the geographic center of the Sahara .

At the bottom of the approx. 4 km wide and 100 m deep caldera there is a cinder cone and three salt lakes , all of which appear in different colors. These lakes justify the naming of the Waw an-Namus. Around the caldera there are 10–20 km of fields with dark volcanic loose material ( tephra ), which can even be clearly seen from space.

Waw an-Namus has enjoyed increasing tourist popularity since Libya began to open to tourism from around 2000. Since the beginning of the civil war in February 2011, the tour to Wau-en-Namus is no longer possible because of the extremely unsafe situation in Libya since then.

On the southern edge of the Tibesti Mountains , about 500 km as the crow flies, is the spectacular “Natronloch”, Trou au Natron .

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Individual evidence